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Recruiting an Army of Candidates
Recruiting an Army of Candidates http://www.lp.org/campaigns/crm/three.html You're ready to turn your local LP into a credible political force by fielding a team of candidates. But before you begin recruiting, it pays to do your homework to identify in which races a Libertarian candidate can be the most effective. Think about every elected position at every level of state and local government, including county commission and school board races. This process is called "political mapping." Focus on open seats. They offer the best opportunities for electoral victories. It can also be a good strategy to run LP candidates in races left unchallenged by the non-incumbent party. If the Democrats won't bother to challenge the entrenched Republican candidate, the race needs a Libertarian. Two-way races against an entrenched incumbent, while they may be even more unwinnable for us than for the major party that has already given up on that seat, provide avenues for extra exposure, and increased vote totals over what we could expect for the same effort in a three-way race. They also get people in the habit of voting Libertarian. Find out what's important to voters in the district. Research the area's demographics, including voting patterns, socioeconomic status, ethnic groups, etc. You may discover weaknesses of your opponents, or come across a race that would be perfect for a particular candidate. OK, you know which races to target. Here, then, is a suggested strategy for preparation, recruiting, and follow-up in putting Libertarians in the race for our country's future. The state leadership must lead. It is much easier to recruit candidates if you are already a candidate yourself (assuming, of course, you meet whatever legal residence requirements prevail in your area). The state leadership must prepare. The preparation process includes: Getting maps of all the appropriate electoral districts. Identifying which districts have possible candidates (subject to the guidelines below). This is done by matching the addresses of your people with the appropriate spots on election maps. In Utah, the party's database has five informational fields that relate to candidate recruiting purposes. Each member's information includes: district number, state senate district, state representative district, congressional district, and county. The membership list can be sorted by any of these items to facilitate candidate recruiting. Selecting a first, second, and third choice (if possible) for each office. Plenty of lead time is required. If the candidate filing period opens in March, potential candidates should get their first recruiting letters by January. Putting together a candidate recruiting team. Depending on your circumstances, three or four people may be enough. If your state is large and spread out, you may want to assemble local or county level recruiting teams. The definition of an effective county party includes their ability to recruit their own candidates, apart from the state effort. Any help you can get will allow you to concentrate on weak areas. Prepare a timetable and quantify your goals. For example: Preparation and homework will be done by X, letter will be written by X and mailed by X. Second letter will be sent on X and a follow-up meeting or telephone call will be completed by X. The person(s) responsible are X, X, and X. A total of $X will be required to complete this process. This money is already (a) in the party treasury, or (b) must be raised by X date. A rough draft of a candidate recruiting timetable is outlined later. Quantifying your goal is a most important part of the recruitment process. If people are going to put their names on the line for us, we have to prove to them that simply filing for an office will do something useful for the party. Thus, "Your commitment is important because we are trying to field candidates for 100% of the legislative seats up for election this year. This will bring the party credibility and help us become a threat to the special interest parties." Set this goal high -- low enough to be within reach (at least theoretically) but high enough to make you work. Publicize this goal and create a bandwagon effect. Create an environment supportive of running a lot of candidates. The farmer plows before he plants. Every time you communicate with your party members, talk about this numerical goal and how important it is to run a lot of candidates. Run articles in your newsletter -- mention it in fundraising letters -- write about it in your "Chair's Column." Build the bandwagon effect -- and when you think everyone has heard enough about it, keep on truckin' and talk some more. Make a full slate part of your party strategy. Filling ballots with Libertarians should be part of a larger plan for victory. In turn, more candidates will be attracted by an organized effort that supports their own efforts. Once you have finished your preparation, completed your homework, agitated the pot, plowed the field, run it up the flagpole, and counted the number of salutes, implement the recruiting process. Get everyone out of the frying pan and into the fire and see how things hop. The implementation phase should look something like this: Ninety days in advance of the candidate filing period opening, the first letter goes out from the state chairman, inviting the person to consider running for office. This letter will be two or three pages, to allow enough space to explain why the candidate is important to the campaign and may include a one page "recruiting flyer" prepared by either the national HQ or your state party. The one page flyer is to address general questions of strategy. Follow-up letter encouraging the candidate to run for office. Personal follow-up. This phase is crucial. It's a good idea to telephone the potential candidate to get a sense of his or her feelings. If they don't say yes right away: Find out exactly what their objection is. Attached is a list of common objections and suggested responses. Secure a commitment to "keep thinking about it." Above all, on this first telephone call, avoid an outright "No." As long as they are still on the hook, you have a chance to get them in the boat. Set up a time to meet with them personally. If they are resistant to this, don't push it. Tell them you will call them back in "a few days." At all times and at all costs, don't let them say "No" to more follow up. Remember: As a major survival skill in 20th Century America, we all have strong and effective defenses against people who are trying to talk us into doing something new, strange, unusual, and possibly risky. Included with the objection list are a couple of ideas for breaking through those defenses. Immediately, send them a letter (same day!) thanking them for the opportunity to speak with them and answer -- again! -- their main objections. Mention your progress to date ("of the 120 candidates we are trying to recruit, 35 have said yes"). Depending on the circumstances, you may want to contact someone else in your local party to follow up with another telephone call or another letter. If they are acquainted on a friendship or business basis with someone already committed to run, have the friend contact them. This can be very effective, as it is harder to say "No" to a friend than it is to some faceless party official on the telephone. Follow up a second time with a telephone call. At this point, you'll find that about one-third sign up immediately, having thought about it a second time. For those still holding out, remember that "the third time is a charm." Send them another letter of thanks and explanation (these follow-up letters should never be more than one page) and a third call. If they are still sitting on the fence -- and assuming you have a backup -- ask if they mind if you fall back and talk with your "second choice" for the office. "Understand, Mr. Smith, we want you to run -- you are our first choice -- but we do have some deadlines that are fast approaching, and since running a full slate is so important for us this year, we have to talk with a couple of other people to see if they are interested." Some will sign up at that point. Others will be relieved that they are "off the hook" for the moment. Complete the recruiting process with your second and third choices. If you still don't have success in filling that slot on the ballot, return to the original candidate and try again. Once the candidate filing period has opened, send another letter out to the "final holdouts" for races you still haven't filled and give them another phone call. If you have time, call them on the last day of the filing period -- give them the current statistics, and turn on the emotion -- "We really need you -- you can be more help to the cause of liberty than ever before, and it's for doing nothing, really, just going down and putting your name on the ballot. You won't have to do anything else -- we'll handle it." You may get one or two more candidates that way. Never give up until the filing period is closed. Frankly, the success rate after three follow-ups is not that great -- but it has occasionally proven useful, particularly when you are just short of a goal. Once committed, send them a letter of thanks. Include with this letter any of the legal information (such as candidate reporting requirements) etc., and how the state organization is going to help the candidate handle this requirement. For line candidates, you should offer to file the required reports for them. You may want to offer a monthly class for active candidates. All the preparation in the world does little good without follow up and follow through. Candidates have been lost simply because they didn't make it to the filing office by 5 PM on the final day the period was open. The week before the candidate filing period is to start, send a letter to each confirmed candidate noting the beginning of the filing period. Give them the place and times that they can file. Schedule two or three "mass filings" where several candidates could get together and go down in a block to file. For many of your people, this will be the first time they have run for office -- and they may, understandably, be a little uncertain as to the actual mechanics of finding their way through a maze of bureaucrats in order to complete the required paperwork. You can also offer to find a volunteer to go with them, if such support is available. Make sure that each candidate has two phone numbers to call if he or she has problems with the filing bureaucrats. On the first day of the candidate filing period, meet with your candidate recruiting team. If you have teams in several areas, try to bring them all in for a face-to-face meeting. If this isn't possible, call them on the telephone. Since all of you are running for office (remember?), one good choice for a meeting location is a coffee shop close by the candidate filing office. Every candidate recruiter should file for office on the very first day, unless strategic reasons dictate otherwise. Copies of the "Status Sheet" should be distributed to all concerned and assignments checked. During the first week of the filing period, contact everyone by telephone to remind them of the deadline. Someone should check with the appropriate clerks every day and the status sheet should be updated. On the first day of the last week of the filing period, everyone who has not filed should be personally contacted -- with a sense of urgency -- about filing. Offer to get them a ride, etc., and make sure they haven't changed their mind and are trying to back out. Schedule another "mass filing" for this week. For the final day, anyone who has not filed should be called the night before AND in the morning. Clerks should be checked at 1 PM, following the lunch hour, and more calls made to those who still have not filed. Offer to go and pick them up -- right then -- if possible. Determine the required travel time for each holdout, and contact the clerks appropriately to find out if they have filed. If not, call them -- immediately -- and get them on the road. It is disheartening to work hard to recruit candidates -- and then have people flake out on you at the last minute. Avoid this by getting everyone filed as early as possible. We do not have so many candidates that we can afford to lose even one. Honor your candidates. Send them another "thanks" letter once they have filed. Print their names in your newsletter and tell everyone else to thank them. Don't recruit them, file them, and forget them. Keep in touch -- preferably, with a regular party candidate's newsletter of some sort. Use candidates as a source for suggestions for other candidates. If they say yes, tell them what areas in which you are still looking for candidates and ask if they know anyone who might be interested in the area. If they say no; ask them if they can suggest someone. You may find a lot of apolitical libertarians that way -- principled people who simply are not party people. PREVIOUS SECTION | NEXT SECTION | TABLE OF CONTENTS